Lake Kilby – Care4Suffolk

Errors, Omissions & Discrepancies

Care4Suffolk — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:49:46 +0000

Citizens require transparency and thoroughness from their government. The Public can not be informed and involved if the government does not provide all necessary information. It is a minimum. When the government fails to fully disclose information, makes the process cumbersome or convoluted, or ignores important details in the name of time or labor saving, then the Public suffers.

Unfortunately, with REZONING REQUEST, RZN2021-00018, (Conditional), Lake Kilby Shores, this is what has happened. There have been a slew of errors, omissions, and discrepancies. City Council should vote NO to this rezoning request for this reasons alone. Below they are itemized:

Prior to First Planning Commission Meeting:

➢ No street address was listed in Public Notices.

The notice listed only parcel IDs, which makes it very difficult for the Public to know where this property is located and therefore assess its impact.

➢ Planning Department approved developer’s traffic study despite it being out of date, containing errors, and missing important data on the two nearest intersections.

The Planning Department recommended approval of the Kilby rezoning based on bad data at the second Planning Commission meeting.
Today, the Planning Department knows the data is bad. They should retract their approval and require the developer to resubmit a thorough, complete study.
There are conflicting statements from the developer regarding the widening of Kilby: We will widen the road to a minimum 20 ft vs. We will widen the road up to 20 ft within the available right of way.
Additionally, the study was done during the pandemic when traffic was greatly reduced. No effort was made to provide up-to-date traffic data in the Traffic Study.
A proper traffic study would have (and should have) identified these limitations.

➢ The developer’s “narrative” provided to the Planning Department, included in the Staff Report packet, makes unsupported claims that were never questioned by anyone:

It states that, “In a review of the City’s available homes for sale, as well as discussing with realtors, there is still a deficit in supply of detached single family homes.” There is no supporting evidence or statistics to back up this claim.

➢ The narrative also states that, “Due to the rather low comparative density, the applicant is not submitting a proffer limiting the number of units in the project. The final number of units will be determined in the engineering phase.”

This is confusing because there is a listed proffer of 204 homes. We pointed out this contradiction to Planning, but they did not encourage the developer to fix this sloppy error.

At the March 21, 2023 Planning Commission Meeting:

➢ Order of agenda items was changed with short notice.

Caused the Public Hearing to be significantly later, impacting more than 100 citizens that attended.

➢ Developer removed a small wedge parcel from the proposed plan in order to prevent connectivity and Planning Department recommended rezoning despite connectivity being an established practice in city planning. Connectivity is safer and more cost effective for citizens.

On October 18, 2023, the Planning Department recommended denial of the rezoning application on the basis of non-connectivity.
The developer removing this small portion of land was done to intentionally skirt the best practices in city planning that requires adjacent developments to connect roads.

➢ The Planning Department presented slides with the developer’s road section analysis, which had not been made available to the public.

➢ The proffers state the the houses will be a minimum of 1850 sq ft, however, the Fiscal Impact Study uses 2720 sq ft for calculations.

This creates a big difference in cost of building materials and tax revenue.

At April 19, 2023 City Council Meeting:

➢ On April 18th, the day before City Council, the developer requested a 120–day deferral with the only reason being “for the Council to have sufficient time to evaluate the application prior to voting on it.”

City Council did not have to approve this deferral, but they did; a public hearing was still held and they also voted to schedule a second public hearing for August 16th.
The developer has played games with a lot of peoples’ time and our City Council let him get away with unnecessarily dragging out this rezoning issue.

➢ The Planning Department used the wrong conceptual site map during his Staff Report presentation (he presented the original one from October 2022, not the one with the 18 acre parcel removed).

This could have incorrectly led Council Members and citizens to believe that the proposed development will connect with the development to the north of the property.

➢ Packet was missing photos and several other documents, as well as public comments, that were submitted via the portal.

Planning was notified, but did nothing to rectify the situation.

➢ Intentional omission of key parts of the UDO description/purpose statement for Residential Medium zoning:

The developer narrative omitted the entire first sentence about RM zoning’s purpose being where “adequate public facilities and services ARE available”.
Planning’s Staff Report omitted the entire paragraph from the UDO and instead only quoted the two words “ideally suited.”

➢ Developer proffered any and all possible building materials and foundation types.

When every option is proffered, how is the city supposed to plan for or ensure quality of development?

➢Proffers have never been updated to reflect the very large increase in costs for new schools in the City’s current Capital Improvements Program.

There is also no requirement in the Staff Report to list when any new schools are forecasted to be built—how effective are proffers if a school won’t be replaced for almost a decade and costs are going up by the tens of millions?
Example: Elephant’s Fork Elementary is already at 120% capacity, but not due for replacement until at least 2029 (estimated completion in 2031).

Prior to August 16, 2023 City Council Meeting:

➢ Many public comments and submissions were not included in the City Council packet, again.

Many citizens are unable to make these public hearings, so they submit their comments via the portal only to have some go missing.

Many of these errors, omissions, and discrepancies were brought to the attention of the Planning Department prior to them making their recommendation for approval, but still remain incorrect or absent. The errors, omissions, and discrepancies all seem to favor the developer. None of this is in the best interest of the citizens of Suffolk.

Care4Suffolk supports growth and development, but it MUST be done responsibility. All of these errors, omissions, and discrepancies should have been corrected. There have been months to fix these, but the Planning Department is content to accept an incomplete traffic study. They gave their recommendation to approve even though the road improvements will not even meet the state’s minimum standards and knowing full well that the developer is avoiding connecting his proposed development with the adjacent development. Connectivity provides added safety to communities. The Planning Department knows this and is still allowing this. Delay tactics by the developer, including last-minute and lengthy deferrals, along with changes in the agenda order, as well as public comments going missing, have negatively impacted the Public’s ability to be engaged in the process.

The Public requires the Planning Department to fulfill its responsibility and change its recommendation of approval to denial and City Council needs to act in the best interest of the citizens and vote NO to this rezoning on Lake Kilby Road.

Developing on Lake Kilby – Is It Really Smart Growth?

Care4Suffolk — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 01:07:00 +0000

The Hampton Roads REALTORS Association Chairman of the Board spoke on the developer’s behalf at the March 21st Planning Commission meeting. He touted Smart Growth, but did not specify how rezoning for over 200 homes on Lake Kilby Road would fulfill any of the principles of this planning and development concept. This rezoning would actually contradict almost every Smart Growth principle as listed on the National Association of Realtors website:

This Lake Kilby development plan fails to address walkable neighborhoods or distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place, or provide a variety of transportation options.

Curb and gutter only along subdivision frontage does not equate to connectivity or walkability. Rather, it creates an unattractive patchwork of sidewalks that lead to nowhere along a very narrow, highly-trafficked, ditch-lined road.
Widening a critical portion of the road to a width that is below standard is not safe for the projected traffic or bicyclists. Even the developer’s lawyer stated that the proffered “approximate” width of 20 feet with no shoulder is below standard.

The developer conducted only limited outreach and made no attempt to engage the most concerned neighbors. There was total disregard for the most important Smart Growth principle of encouraging “community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.”

The principle of preserving “open space, farmland, and critical environmental areas” is given no consideration. The majority of the property is actively farmed, contains wetlands and natural runoff that feeds a drinking water reservoir.

There is also a major contradiction due to the fact that the developer is intentionally trying to avoid connectivity with the existing subdivision next door. The Lake Kilby Road rezoning effort was recommended for denial just last October because the developer specifically attached a Subdivision Variance to it, requesting the city waive connection requirements. He is now removing an entire parcel from the plan—just to AVOID CONNECTION with the neighbors.

I think instead of just vaguely addressing a planning and development theory during a public hearing, the head of a trade organization should be prepared to talk specifically about the issue at hand–especially if his entire group is wearing “Smart Growth” stickers on their shirts.

Lake Kilby: More Hazards to Come with Development

Care4Suffolk — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 16:10:17 +0000

On March 23, 2023, this van ended up in the ditch on Lake Kilby Road blocking traffic. Lake Kilby is an example of the many narrow country roads in Suffolk that do not meet the minimum standards set forth by VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation).

Lake Kilby is a road with lanes that are 8′ wide and with no clear zone. A clear zone, defined by VDOT is “used to describe the unobstructed, traversable area provided beyond the edge of the through traveled way for the recovery of an errant vehicle.” Lake Kilby Road is designated as a minor collector road and should have a minimum of 11′ lanes, but recommended 12′ lanes where trucks or farm equipment use the road, and an 8′ clear zone. (Source: VDOT Road Design Manual)

This is right where a developer wants to put a 200+ housing development that was just recommended by the Suffolk Planning Department and the Suffolk Planning Commission. The developer is proffering to widen the road in front of this proposed new development, but only to 10′ lanes and no expanded clear zone. This doesn’t meet the minimum required by the state. The lawyer for the developer, Grady Palmer, stated last Tuesday at the Planning Commission, “We understand, that’s not standard. We wish we could do standard, but we can’t do standard. But 20 feet, and the way I think about this as a lawyer, can two school buses pass each other safely on 20 feet of pavement. I think the answer to that question is yes.” ( Source: Planning Commission Meeting video mark 2:39:34-2:39:55)

The developer would only be widening Lake Kilby in front of the development, so it will still only be 8′ lanes in parts, but it will add about 100 new students. So these school buses which are about 8′ wide (source Virginia Public School Bus Specifications) still have to traverse these narrow lanes. Even in front of the development, with only 10′ lanes and not meeting minimum clear zones, should something unexpected happen (inclement weather, farm equipment, vehicle loses control, etc.) there is no place for the school bus to safely veer off. Instead of a Stanley Steamer van, that could be a school bus ending up in a ditch.

The city can NOT accept sub-standard improvements. The developer is in business to make money and making the roads wide enough to safely accommodate the traffic is not something they are willing to do. We as citizens should not be forced to accept road improvements that do not meet the minimum standards. If the developer will not fix them to the minimum standard, then they should not be allowed to develop there. Our safety and the safety of our children is not worth it.

This issue isn’t done yet!

This comes before City Council on April 19. Email City Council (email: council@suffolkva.us) and tell them you do not want this approved. We as citizens can come together and let them know what we want for our city.

Future Growth on Lake Kilby Rd?

Care4Suffolk — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:15:05 +0000

Last October a developer requested to rezone a parcel of land right on Lake Kilby Road (RZN2021-00018). The developer wished to rezone the land from agricultural to medium density residential and build a housing development of 225 homes on 106 acres of farmland.

The development in the request would be built just south of a development called Pitchkettle Farms. Pitchkettle Farms is zoned low residential density and has 112 houses, some with half-acre lots. To secure the support of the Pitchkettle Farms HOA, the developer agreed to ask for a variance, which was another item on the October Planning Commission agenda.

Good city planning practices require an interconnectivity of streets. So new neighborhoods built next to established neighborhoods connect by way of connection stubs. When Pitchkettle Farms was approved, it included the required connection point to join any future development.

The developer requested this a variance to normal city planning requirements because the Pitchkettle Farm neighborhood was, understandably so, not excited to be connecting to a new development with twice the number of homes, all of whom could be using their main street, Pitchkettle Farm Lane, to access Pitchkettle Road. Who wants to add that much traffic to their small neighborhood street?

However, there are many good reasons to make sure in city planning that roads connect. It reduces traffic congestion, provides continuous and more direct routes, increases safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, improves EMS vehicle access and response times, improves quality of utility connections and increases efficiency for public services like school buses and trash collection. For all of these reasons, the variance request was denied, and rightfully so.

Above is the original plan for the proposed development. Each yellow box represents a lot. At the top of the graphic, there is a row of lots, and in the middle of that row, there is a yellow line separating two housing lots. That line is where the neighborhoods should be connected by city standards.

The variance was requested to appease the Pitchkettle Farm HOA and gain their support for the new development. When the variance was denied, the HOA President no longer supported the new development. The developer has a long history of looking for support from HOA boards from neighboring developments. To get their support this time, he has redesigned the development so that the neighborhood barely connects (just a small little corner!) Thus he is hoping to avoid the issue altogether.

Above is the new plan. You can see a wedge piece of land removed from the top portion, so that it now has only the slightest connection with Pitchkettle Farms (north of proposed development), presumably to connect in with their public utilities, but avoid the road connectivity that the city requires.

The new development would be 204 houses on 87 acres of farmland.

When I sit here looking at the new plan, two questions spring to mind. The first is, what is the developer’s plan with that wedge slice of land? I notice the houses don’t follow the road all the way to the exit. Could it be that he plans to continue that road in the future? If so, he will likely be required by the city to connect the wedge piece to both developments, and there is plenty of room for a road to make that connection and to throw a couple dozen more houses there as well.

My second question is what happened to the road from the first plan in the northeast portion. That road was designed to connect to the commerce park area (already rezoned!) but there is a cul-de-sac in the new plan. Will that stay a cul-de-sac or will that connect to the commerce park? In case you are curious, areas zoned commerce park in Suffolk, by right, can contain: offices, office warehouses, or research and development facilities.

Above is a rendering of what could be in-store soon for those on Lake Kilby Rd. Lake Kilby Rd is a narrow country road, with flooding issues and large trucks that are unable to safely pass other traffic (see here and here.) In addition, both Elephant’s Fork Elementary and King’s Fork High School (the schools for this new development) are already overcrowded, without the added 204 houses this would bring.

Is this what we want to see for the future of Suffolk? Hundreds of houses pack on small parcels of land, with inadequate public services to provide for the citizens? If we do nothing, this is likely what we will see just down the road. If you want to stop this, join with CARE4Suffolk and help us let the city know we do not want this.

Important Information

Planning Commission Meeting, Tuesday, March 21 at 2pm at City Hall is at 442 W. Washington St.

Sign our petition to let the city know what you think.

Email the City Planning Department direct – planningemail@suffolkva.us

Email City Council direct – council@suffolkva.us

Call City Planning – 757-514-4060

To receive email updates, please complete this form.

Update Lake Kilby Road Rezoning Request

Care4Suffolk — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 15:43:10 +0000

The blue rezoning signs should be popping up any day now on Lake Kilby Road. The Planning Commission public hearing for the Lake Kilby/Lake Cohoon Road rezoning effort (RZN2021-0018) is only a few weeks away (March 21st, 2pm at City Hall). We need as many people as possible to attend this meeting (wear a blue shirt!). They will vote to recommend approval or denial and City Council will take this into consideration when they make the final vote on it in April.

We still have an online petition that will get printed out and shared with the city. Please check out the link, sign it and pass it along! We appreciate comments on the petition, too!

A developer is requesting to rezone 87 acres on Lake Kilby and Lake Cohoon Roads from Rural Estate to Residential Medium Density to allow for 204 cluster style homes. Rural Estate allows for 1 house for every 3 acres. Residential Medium zoning allows for 4 houses per acre.

Local residents oppose this rezoning because our narrow, rural roads are already crowded and dangerous. According to VDOT, our impacted roads see about 1,200 vehicle trips per day. This proposed development would bring more than 2,000 additional daily vehicle trips. That number does not include delivery trucks and other service-related vehicles.

The public schools for this area are overcrowded. Elephant’s Fork Elementary is already at 110% capacity. It is listed as a school with most needs and has a poor facility condition per the Joint School Board Presentation. Kings Fork High School is at 104% capacity.

City Council has already approved more than 7,400 housing units across Suffolk that have not yet been built. We don’t need anymore new residential units in Suffolk.

This rezoning effort will go before Planning Commission for consideration 21 March 2023 at 2 PM.

Please help stop this rezoning by attending on March 21^st and by signing this petition!

Thank you!

Important Contact Information

City Hall is at 442 W. Washington St

Email the City Planning Department direct – planningemail@suffolkva.us

Email City Council direct – council@suffolkva.us

Call City Planning – 757-514-4060

To receive email updates, please complete this form.

Safety Issues on Lake Kilby Road

Care4Suffolk — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 07:38:00 +0000

Lake Kilby Road is like many rural roads in Suffolk. It has narrow lanes (about 8 feet wide), no shoulders, and deep ditches just off the side of the road.

These narrow, rural roads can not handle the traffic that currently drives up and down them every day. They are certainly not ready for large developments, like the one the developer proposes for Lake Kilby Road and Lake Cohoon Road. A development like that will triple the traffic volume on this country road.

The citizens need to stand together and let City Council know that we do not support this kind of development when the infrastructure is not in place to handle it. To find out more, please check out our page on the Lake Kilby rezoning concern.